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GRE vocabulary

palliate

verbHigh-frequency wordMore P words

to ease the severity of something without curing it

Word origin: From Latin palliare, to cloak, from pallium, a cloak.

In a sentence

Palliate in a sentence

Here are example sentences showing palliate in a sentence.

The medication could only palliate her symptoms, not cure the disease.

The medication could only palliate the patient's symptoms, since no treatment addressed the underlying disease.

Antonyms
aggravateintensifyworsen
Usage & nuance

Using “palliate” well

Palliate means to ease the severity of something without removing its cause, as in palliative care that relieves suffering rather than curing illness. A second sense is to make a fault seem less serious by excusing it.

Common questions

Questions about “palliate

Palliate (verb) means to ease the severity of something without curing it
Here is palliate used in an example sentence: "The medication could only palliate her symptoms, not cure the disease." Another example: "The medication could only palliate the patient's symptoms, since no treatment addressed the underlying disease."
Common synonyms for palliate include mitigate, alleviate, assuage, mollify.
Antonyms of palliate include aggravate, intensify, worsen.
Palliate clusters with mitigate, alleviate, assuage, and mollify. Its antonyms aggravate, intensify, and worsen mark the opposite-sense answer.
Yes. Palliate is a high-frequency GRE word, so it is worth prioritising as you build your vocabulary.

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